🏉 Why I was wrong about Taniela Tupou

And the forward pack that can bring home the World Cup.

How good was Saturday night!

The Wallabies completed back-to-back wins against the World Champs, and while the win a week earlier had a thrilling finish, I enjoyed Saturday’s match more because I was certain South Africa would bounce back.

We started well, but it looked liked the Boks would run away with the game after an early 2nd half try gave them the lead.

But to see so many of our boys stand up and be counted when the match was close has still got me buzzing 4 days later.

While there’s no doubt South Africa are struggling to maintain their intensity after beating the Lions and winning the World Cup, they still came here to win and I believe we now have some of world’s best game-breakers.

Players who can create something from nothing and swing the momentum of a tight match in our favour, and non more so than Taniela Tupou.

Thor, QC and SBW

When I first heard about an explosive young prop from across the ditch, I thought he’d likely be a ‘flash in the pan’ and fail to reach his full potential.

I’d seen many players who dominated as a schoolboy fail to reach the next level, where a strong work ethic is often more necessary than lots of talent.

But couldn’t have been more wrong, as Tupou is everything I wanted to be as a prop.

Dominant at scrum time, physical in the collisions, high work rate, and not afraid to back himself with the ball in hand.

Backing himself

Despite growing up in NZ and Tonga, it’s great to see how much pride he has for representing Australia, and we’re lucky to have the best two tight head props in the world, along with Allan Alaalatoa.

Tight head prop is the toughest position in Rugby and a two man job.

Now days props are expected to scrum well and contribute around the pitch, and Australia is fortunate to be able to keep both fresh by sharing game time.

Allan may not be as explosive as Taniela, but his work rate and leadership is off the charts and would still be my starting tight head most of the time, with Taniela coming on to wreak havoc early in the second half.

But debating who should start at THP is a great problem to have, and I remember people complaining that we didn’t even have one good tight head in my day!

It was also great to see Quade back after a few rough years, with his goal kicking and solid defence key to the victories.

We may never see the same attacking brilliance from him again, but I think he’s now a more complete player and could take us 2 steps further than we did at the 2011 World Cup.

A calming influence on a young squad

In his post match interview after kicking the winning goal, he went to great lengths to empathise that “Rugby is just a small part of my life” and thanked Sonny Bill Williams for his guidance, and for taking him in after he was exiled from the Reds.

Representing your country is huge honour, but seeing sport for what it is helps players to stay calm during a game’s big moments, and something I’ve heard Sonny speak about before with regards to his religion.

Never losing sight of the fact that “it’s just a game” is something I wish did earlier in my career, and while we may think of SBW as one of the greatest footballers of our time, I think Quade will remember him as an even greater friend.

What’s next?

Despite the reasons to be optimistic, the team still has long way to go and the 2 tests against Argentina followed by a Spring tour with tests against Japan, Scotland, England and Wales will give us a better gauge of where we’re at.

If we can improve our results against the Pumas (2 draws last year) and win 3 out of 4 tests on that tour, then I think we’re looking good.

Then if we can run the All Blacks close next year and keep performing against everyone else, then I think we’re looking really good to give the 2023 World Cup a real shake!

In just 2 games, Samu Kerevi has shown us how much he was missed, and Sean McMahon is another welcomed addition to the squad.

Now we’re cooking…

If we can add the likes of Rory Arnold and Will Skelton to already impressive group of locks (Rodda, Salakaia-Loto, Phillip, Timani and Swain) then I think we have a squad to be feared.

Imagine starting with Alaalatoa and Arnold, then having Skelton AND Tupou coming off the bench with 30 to go?

Scary stuff if you’re the opposition, and because we all know the forwards are the ones who win matches (backs just decide by how much) I’d love to hear your forward packs if the World Cup Final was on tomorrow.

Here’s mine:

We can waste time talking about the backs another week, but I’d love to hear your thoughts and please leave your forward pack in the comments below.

Go Wallabies!